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<title>Waiting in the Wings by Firekitten</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467283">Waiting in the Wings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firekitten/pseuds/Firekitten'>Firekitten</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fix-It, M/M, Trust Love is the theme, V7C12 Mini rewrite</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 08:22:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>694</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467283</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firekitten/pseuds/Firekitten</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There was always another way.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>121</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Waiting in the Wings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“He’s right, let’s get this over with.”</p><p>“Robyn-”</p><p>It took only moments for the arrow to fly, for it to be deflected, for the renegade from Mantle to strike, for Clover to hook her weapon with his own and toss her to the ground.  </p><p>Qrow sighed in defeat. Fine.</p><p>He got to his feet, took three steps to the right, and slammed the whole of his boot on the wing of Robyn’s weapon, pinning it down.</p><p>“What are you-” She started to shout.</p><p>“<em>Stay out of this</em>.” He snarled back, glancing down at her briefly before staring back at Clover. “He’s right. You’re not on the wanted list, so don’t start a fight when you don’t need to.”</p><p>“And what are you going to do, Qrow?” Clover asked him, tense and ready for what might come next.</p><p>Anger bubbled in his gut. At who, he wasn’t sure. Clover, for following through with the order? James, for giving it? Robyn, for needlessly escalating it? Tyrian, for his hopeful manic tittering?</p><p>A lesson from Tai pushed to the forefront of his mind: <em>“If you don’t reign in that anger of yours, it’ll only control you. If that happens, then you’ve already lost.”</em></p><p>Qrow took a steady breath, counted backwards from ten, let it ground him back down as he focused on the facts. Ruby had said a lot, about Mantle and Atlas, but the one that stuck out most was that Salem was coming. If anything was causing James to panic, that was it.</p><p>And, knowing his kids, they didn’t take it well either. All he could do was try to take it better. Right now, he needed intel. A chance to get to the kids and to James. And, most importantly, to conserve his energy – because the real fight was still coming and if he wasted his strength resisting now, then he had no hope of living later.</p><p>Besides, it wasn’t like any jail had a chance of holding in a bird anyways.</p><p>He leveled his gaze on the operative who had no idea he had an ace of his own up his sleeve, and said, “The only thing I can. Turn myself in.”</p><p>From his corner, Tyrian bemoaned caustically, “Oh, what a bore you two are.”</p><p>“Shut up.” Qrow and Clover said simultaneously, eyes never moving from each other.</p><p>“You don’t have to do this.” Robyn tried.</p><p>“Yeah, I do.” He finally stepped off her weapon, letting her up. “And if you really want to help Mantle like you say, then you need to learn when to fight with your words, not your weapon.”</p><p>Though he still eyed them both with caution, Clover lowered Kingfisher, pointing it towards the floor. Likewise, Qrow moved slowly as he reached back for Harbringer, unhooked it from his back and held it out to the other, hilt first.</p><p>The other’s gaze darted between it and him, before he reached out, and took the offering.</p><p>As Qrow let it go, the air seemed to lighten considerably.</p><p>“For what it’s worth,” Clover said in a tone so soft it was excruciating to hear, “I don’t want to do this.”</p><p>“But orders are orders, right?” Qrow scoffed, immediately regretting it as hurt flashed in those teal green eyes he’d been steadily falling for.</p><p>He took another breath, counted down again. No, that wasn’t fair. Because, had their situations been reversed and it was Oz giving the order, he couldn’t say with 100% certainty that he wouldn’t have done the same.</p><p>Still, he couldn’t push the apology past his tongue, no matter how much he wanted too. The best he could manage was to put up no complaint as the bolas cuffs were tied around his wrists.</p><p>Clover’s hands held onto his, looking up at him. “We’ll… <em>I’ll</em> figure this out.”</p><p>Qrow tried to push past everything to believe what was potentially an empty promise. “Tch, good luck.”</p><p>“They say I’m pretty full of that.” His smile was more confidant then it ought to be in this situation.</p><p>And downright manipulative, because it gave Qrow hope that he could still trust him.</p><p>His fingers curled over his, squeezed back.</p><p>Maybe he should.</p>
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